


You Chose to Judge a Book by it's Cover

by AndromedaSkies



Category: Mother 1 | EarthBound Zero | EarthBound Beginnings, Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound, Mother 3
Genre: Another fantasy au except this one is big violent lmao, F/F, F/M, Gen, Lucas is perfect, M/M, Meryl is a good friend, Ness is basically Danny Zuko if Danny Zuko was a bully, Travis is your typical good boy unpopular protag, except he's not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22023751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndromedaSkies/pseuds/AndromedaSkies
Summary: Travis is being bullied in school, he's also hopelessly in love with his bully's seemingly perfect boyfriend, how tragic.If only he knew the truth about the whole situation.------Highschool fic, set in 1970s-1980s, think something similar to Grease, but with a twist.Also they have modern technology bc im lazy lolBasically 2019 but if everyone dressed, spoke like and behaved like they were ripped straight from That 70s Show
Relationships: Ana/Ninten (Mother 1), Lucas (Mother 3) & Ness (Mother 2), Lucas (Mother 3)/Ness (Mother 2), Lucas (Mother 3)/Travis (Mother 4), Not a v romance heavy fic tbh
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	1. A Rather Uneventful Day

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing interesting happens in this chapter, I swear I'm not lying...
> 
> ;)

Travis felt horribly out of place.

He sort of hoped his older brother was there, at least he'd have some sort of comfort, but alas, he was left alone to face this feeling of awkwardness surrounding him. You see, Travis had recently began attending Eagleland State High, and he could already tell he wouldn't fit in. Surrounding him were boy with slicked back hair who rocked biker jackets, baggy shirts and tight yet low cut jeans, along with girls with pretty bobs and either short leather dresses or flowing dresses that reached their ankles.

There, in the middle, sat lonely travis with his sweater vest and high pinned pants, he felt sort of embarrassed. That wasn't the only issue, there was also another problem.

This school had a social class system.

In ESH, there were four main groups, of course there were your typical preps and goths and punks and cheerleaders, but other than them the main four were the biggest and most prominent.

The first was The Groupies, they were really pretty and really popular girls who seemed to have everyone's eyes on them when they walked passed. Any girl could be a Groupie as long as she was cute, there were nerdy Groupies, nice Groupies, bitchy Groupies and then some.

Then there were The Bangers, you could call them the male equivalent to The Groupies, except almost every Banger was an asshole. You could tell if a guy was a Banger by how much gel he had in his hair, if it looked like a shiny rock he was most certainly a Banger. The Bangers didn't do anything but party, have tones of unprotected sex and bragged about their looks and bodies, if you weren't one of them and didn't crush on them, you probably hated them.

Below the Bangers were The Kinda-Cools, these guys were kids who weren't really all that popular, but people rocked with them anyway. They'd get invited to parties, but never get invited to true events, the more pupular kids would say hello and remember their names, but never have outright conversations with them. Being a Kinda-Cool was good because you were popular enough not to get bullied, but lame enough where they never got involved in drama and could keep to themselves if they chose.

Finally, there's The Obscures, the kids who were lower than the nobodies because nobody knew who The Obscures were most of the time, being an Obscure meant you could be picked on and no one cared because nobody knew you, or you could be harrassed and no one would realize. And Obscure could never be invited to anything and would often be unknown to the teachers as well as the students, being an Obscure sucked.

The problem with this system was, due to how knew Travis was, he hadn't been drafted into any of these groupes yet. He'd like to believe there was some form of initiation he had to go through to become any of these kids, and he hadn't done that yet, so for now he accepted the fact that he was probably an Obscure by the looks of things.

Travis was out by the courtyard when he saw a red 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle pull up beside the school, and when this happened, everyone outside paused and took a breath, including Travis, though his was more out of annoyance than wonder.

It was his car.

Elijah Franklin's car.

Ness' car.

Ness was a Banger, in case his ugly gelled hair and ugly jacket didn't prove anything, or the cigar he constantly had on him didn't make it obvious enough. Ness was a typical 'hot edgy football player guy' who basically had every dude in school worshipping the ground he walked on and aspiring to be like him. Travis didn't know why though, maybe this opinion was formed by some less than savory experiences with the noirette, but Travis thought he was nasty. His breath smelt bad and he never left Travis alone, he always made fun of him for something and his lame loser Banger friends would join.

However, there was one good thing about Ness.

His boyfriend.

Almost right when the car parked, Ness stepped out, killing the light on his cigarette and throwing it to the side, he walked to the other side of the car and leaned next to the door, waiting as it opened and another figure stepped out. Not to be biased, but Travis thought he was gorgeous, he had soft blond locks that were slicked into a cowlick with just enough gel where it shaped but it wasn't aggregious and you could still run your fingers through them comfortably. He had gentle blue eyes that you could get lost in, he had smooth and delicate skin, the type where you'd want to place your hand on his cheek and-

Woah, getting a bit off topic there.

This other boy was called Lucas, Lucas Dubois to be exact. The weird thing was he was rather popular, but he didn't fit into a group. He wasn't a girl so he couldn't be a groupie, he wasn't a complete and utter brainless fratboy so he couldn't be a Banger, and he was too popular to be a Kinda-Cool or an Obscure.

Lucas was just Lucas.

And Travis that was really cool.

Lucas was also really kind, though Travis hadn't experiences that kindness yet (because Lucas didn't even know he existed) he knew that it was there, he had seen it firsthand. This pissed off Travis, how could such a lovely and flawless being date such an undesirable swine of a guy?

Maybe it was his bitterness talking, but he simply didn't get it.

Travis had fallen for Lucas ever since he first came to ESH, it was pretty much a love at first sight thing for Travis, ever since he looked into those blue eyes, he felt entranced, he had to date Lucas, he had to be able to call him his own.

It was funny, he had heard somewhere that before meeting Lucas, Ness couldn't imagine getting with another guy, but one look in his eyes changed everything.

Imagine being that beautiful.

"Ness..." Lucas mumbled with an eyeroll "what did I say about smoking in the car?"

"But baaaaabe" Ness chuckled, placing an arm around his shoulder "at least I kept the window open"

Lucas grimaced, reluctantly accepting the embrace "you're hopeless..."

The two soon walked into the courtyard, Lucas looked over at Ness and said something to him, before walking off into the direction of the library, Travis couldn't help but stare as him as he walked off. The look of confidence in his eyes, his classy form and posture as he walked, it was enthralling, hypnotising almost... he couldn't avert his eyes...

"Who you starin' at, kid?"

With a jerk, Travis was slapped back into reality and turned to face the one boy he had been scared of most, Ness, and he didn't look too happy.

"N-nobody, I was just... daydreaming..."

Ness clearly didn't buy it, and this was only made worse when one of his friends butted in and said "daydreamin' about who? 'Cause honestly it looked like you had your eyes on Luke, and you know that ain't allowed"

"He wouldn't want this little wretch anyway!"

"Still" Ness said, silencing them "I noticed you've been giving Lucas a lotta weird looks lately, staring at places you SHOULDN'T be staring at, aye new kid?"

"I... I um... I..."

"Oh no, I get it! You musta forgotten who the hell I am" he then smirked "what's my name, newbie?"

Travis didn't respond as confidently as he would have hoped to "N... Ne... Ness- Ness!"

"Exactly! Ness! Ness Franklin! Ness 'I swear to God if I catch you starin' at my boyfriend like that again I will beat your ass' Franklin! Got it, Newbie?"

"Y-Yeah, I-"

"Whateva Newbie, just watch ya eyes, and ya step, 'cause believe me when I say the only thing stoppin' me from really getting to ya is that Luke may find out, Capiché?"

"C-Capiché"

Almost instantly after, Lucas came dashing back and grabbed Ness by the arm. Instead of malice and anger, Ness adopted a much calmer look, a look of content and happiness, and it looked really out of character "the printer's broken" Lucas gently informed "I can't get my homework, that's jarring"

Lucas' voice was so soothing, it lacked the aggressive bass that most of his Banger friends had, and it wasn't too soft, it was just calm and nice on the ears.

Lucas then looked at Travis, and when he shot him a smile, Travis thought he would melt on the spot "oh, hello there, you're the new kid right? What's your name?"

Travis couldn't help but blush, which didn't look very good considering his boyfriend was right there "Travis... Travis James-McCloud"

Lucas nodded "nice to meet you, I'm Lucas-"

"ANYWAY!" Ness yelled, wrapping an arm around the blond "it seems that first period is gonna start soon, want me to walk ya there?"

Lucas deadpanned, he could tell that his partner was attempting to stop him from introducing himself, and as much as he wanted to tell Ness to go fuck himself, he didn't feel like starting anything as of now, so instead he continued on and shrugged "sure, but don't you dare use it as an excuse to be late to class again, do you hear me?"

"Urgh, fiiiiine"

Travis was forced to watch in silent envy as Lucas clung to the other boy and leaned onto his shoulder, the young couple, along with the rest of the Bangers walked into the school building, leaving Travis alone with his thoughts.

He didn't understand why Ness was being so possessive of Lucas, sure, he was pretty much the perfect boyfriend and it would be a shame to lose him, but why bother with Travis? He wasn't all that attractive, he was new, he was pretty geeky and he was unpopular, Travis was probably the least threatening person in the world when it came to relationships and potentially ruining one. He just couldn't see why Ness was so against him and Lucas interracting "it's not like I have a chance with him..." Travis mumbled "so why bother..."

Travis stood up, hearing the bell ring, it was now time for class, worst of all it was gym class.

Whoop whoop.

\------

Despite how sarcastic and unenthusiastic he was about gym class earlier, when he learned that he was able to stare Lucas down for about an hour and forty five minutes without Ness or his Banger harem disturbing him, it quickly became one of his favorite subjects. During this totally not creepy leering session, Travis had learned a multitide of things about his crush.

One thing was that Lucas was probably one of the most peak ability humans alive currently, the boy could run at speeds that were almost impossible, he was able to do long distance for a crazy length of time without even being out of breath, Lucas could jump, sprint, and lift more than pretty much anyone else in the class, his balance was impecable and his fitness was off the chain.

Basically, despite his slightly lanky appearance, the boy was fit as fuck.

Another thing he learned was that he was very versatile when it came to sports, Lucas seemed to know how to play any given sport at any given time, and in case him being one of the most physically capable beings out there doesn't already spell it out for you, he also managed to be on top of each game. He was that one kid everyone wanted on their team.

Overall, Lucas had somehow managed to make Travis fall for him even harder.

'He's so perfect...' Travis thought 'what the hell did that bastard Ness do to deserve him? What god did he pray to?'

Travis watched intently as Lucas held the soccer ball between his feet, scoping out his surroundings. There was a pair of defenders to the head of him planning on blocking the shot, and all around him there were opposing players attempting to stump him, Lucas was smart though, too smart to let them win. Now, Travis wasn't sport savvy at all and couldn't really describe what just happened, but he did know that it involved a lot of kicking, an injured defender and Lucas making the goal.

Of course he did, he is perfect after all.

"Yuck"

Travis' head quickly shot behind him in hopes that he could see who said that, indeed he did. Behind him stood a familiar girl, she had violet hair with dark brown roots, implying that her hair was dyed, this girl had on a red headband and wore the standard school gym kit "oh, hey Meryl" Travis greeted. Meryl was a family friend who went to Eagleland State High, so he lowered his guard almost instantly when he saw her.

"Hey, good to see you're still drooling over blondielocks over there" she snorted, cutting her emerald eyes at him.

Travis let out a huff "don't call him that, he's really cool..."

"No he's not, you're just horny and gay" she said, sliding next to him "I don't get why everyone in this school seems to pop a boner at the sight of him, personally I don't trust him"

Travis scrunched his face at her vulgar language before sighing "why? He's literally the sweetest, kindest, softest most harmless person in school"

"Yet everyone parts like the red sea when he walks by"

"Because they respect him that much"

Meryl shrugged her shoulders "I just don't trust him, from his angelic persona to his fucking eyes, it's too... perfect, there's something off about him..."

"His eyes?"

"Have you seen them? They're bright enough to light up a room... I mean yeah he's a pretty boy, and his eyes are pretty, but what human being do you know with eyes that blue? Worst part is, they're not even contacts!"

Travis smirked "you sound jealous"

Meryl scoffed "like I'd be jealous of that freak, It's not my fault that you're too blinded by your own lust for him that you can't acknowledge how obviously fake he is"

"First of all, can you stop talking as if I only wanna have my way with him? I do genuinely like him... second of all, you're bad mouthing someone you don't even know"

Meryl stood up "I don't gotta know him to know his whole persona's full of shit, but it's okay, keep falling into the trap and see where that lands you"

"Did you really come all this way to make me feel bad for crushing on him?"

"Yes and no, anyway I gotta go, peace out sucka" was all she said, walking away.

The conversation had left such a bad taste in Travis' mouth that he hadn't noticed that the boys had been packing up and getting ready for their next class.

Well, time to face the rest of the school day.

\------

Ana didn't know what she did wrong.

She was on her way home from school, it was winter so it had gotten pretty dark pretty quick, choir had just ended and her day was going like any other monday would, but this time she had been draghed by force into a dark and dingy allyway.

To say she was scared was an understatement, Ana had heard horror stories of girls her age being kidnapped and trafficked, and her mother used to scare her into coming home early by telling her that due to how early darkness came, she was more likely to be kidnapped during winter. This had become her biggest fear, and suddenly being thrown into a dark ally only brought out the worst of terror in her, she wanted to scream, but she was so scared that she physically couldn't.

"So, you thought you could just pull the stunts you pulled without receiving any consequences?"

Ana looked towards the voice and saw a boy from school she recognized, his eyes were a weird color though, they were a dark pink, almost red color. The boy looked at Ana with a blank expression "well? Are you just gonna stand there shivering or are you gonna ask the question I know you want to?"

Almost instantly she yelled "what the hell Luke!"

Lucas shook his head and approached Ana, placing one arm on the wall behind her and another arm around hee waiste "you know what I like about you Ana? You're very headstrong, much different from the weaker harlots of our school"

Ana frowned "and why do you say that, oh great popular boy?"

"Popular? Heavens no" Lucas the got off her "popular implies that the students of ESH like me, no, they worship me"

"What does that have to do with me?" Ana said, folding her arms.

"You tried to expose me on Friday Ana, did you think I'd forget?"

Ana then froze. Ana had always found Lucas to be suspicious, and after following him for some time she found some... unbelievable information about him "you're a danger to Eagleland, hell, you're a danger to the world!"

"But no one has to know that" Lucas then smirked "usually, I would strike a deal with nosy little rabbits like you but I fear that your headstrong attitude will prevent me from doing so"

Instead of a witty comeback, Ana found herself looking deep into those now catlike pink rhinestones that Lucas called his eyes. Ana had overheard rumors that one look into Lucas' gorgeous blue eyes was enough to make someone fall head over heels for him, Ness being proof of that. However, these pink eyes did not awaken such warm feelings, instead, she found herself being overtaken with fear and her mind being filled with a sense of hopeless and inevitable doom. She didn't like his pink eyes, at all.

But it made sense that his real eyes were so scary, considering what Lucas was, who Lucas was it shouldn't come as a surprise.

Lucas knew he had her pinned, so he did what he had done to so many of his nosy stalkers in the past. Ana watched in horror as the boy's arm contorted and began molding into what looked like just a mixture of burning slime and tenticles, she tried to run, but was soon caught by said arm and pinned back to the wall "pity" Lucas began "if you weren't such a liability we may have been friends"

Ana watched as his arm slid up to her neck and wrapped itself around it, Lucas was being as agonizingly slow as possible, forcing Ana to feel her throat collapse in on itself and gasp for air as she felt it being slowly ripped for her. She could feel her inside retracting, hearing the individual cracking noises in her neck and chest was enough to haunt her for whatever little life she had left.

"ESH will certainly miss our resident church girl" Lucas chuckled "especially Ninten, the poor boy"

Lucas then dropped Ana, watching as she helplessly squirmed and gasped for air through a broken neck and cracked ribs "sorry I didn't do it instantly" he said, kneeling over her "I like to savor these moments"

Ana wasn't even given a chance to attempt to recover before she felt something akin to a hot, burning steel pipe quickly impale her, she was forced to watch in silent agony as her blood pooled around her and Lucas' arm seemingly drained her of the blood she had still in her body.

The last thing Ana Snowden saw before taking her final breath was two catlike fuschia eyes, staring deep into her own.

When she was officially dead, Lucas removed his arm and quicklly morphed it back to normal, shaking off as much blood as possible "urgh, washing thse clothes is gonna be a bitch, I gotta call Ness"

Lucas was so distracted by his own annoyance that he didn't seem to see a certain someone running away from the crime scene.


	2. Accusations and Tribulations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another perfectly normal day in which nothing interesting happens, this time I'm being honest tho :)

Travis relished in being in the comfort of his own home, no annoying teachers, no cute girls that make him feel nervous, no Bangers to ruin his day. All he had at home to deal with was his sometimes annoying brother and his doting parents, what more could he ask for?

Travis and his brother Zack had an odd relationship, on the surface it seemed like your typical 'annoying older brother that constantly teases his gay sibling but would commit a homicide on behalf of said sibling if anyone else dared to even attempt to disrespect him', but underneath that was this weird almost dependence that Zack had on protecting Travis, it was like he knew something about the world that the other didn't and he refused to allow him to be exposed to it. Travis was far from upset by this, Zack was super ripped and super tall, he didn't mind having him as a bodyguard, who was going to go up against a six foot three dude that's addicted to the gym?

Eat your heart out, Ness.

Travis was currently on the computer, finishing off homework, he had a project due for the next day, but because of his heavy procrastination he made sure to keep the tv on during said homework spree.

"BREAKING: HIGH SCHOOL GIRL FOUND DEAD IN ALLYWAY, DRAINED OF HER BLOOD, NO EVIDENCE AT THE SCENE"

Travis winced, Onett was known for being a relatively safe area, things like murder just didn't happen there, so thos was definitely going to be front page news. He then processed the second piece of information 'drained of her blood', what the fuck? Was that even possible? How do you just drain someone completely of their blood?

Travis watched the news report intently, apparently the girl hadn't been identified yet, but police suspected that it was sixteen year old Ana Snowden, who failed to return home yesterday. This made Travis wince again, everyone knew Ana, she was not only dating Ninten Kan, a Kinda-Cool that was bordering on being a Banger from the looks of things, but she was also the best friend and right hand woman to Paula Polestar, the highest tier Groupie at ESH.

Yeah, people were not gonna stop talking about this.

Travis was going to flip channels once the news report changed to something else when he heard his phone go off, the number was unknown, but Travis wasn't exactly one to save many numbers, hell, he didn't even think he had his mom's number saved "yo, what's up, who is this?"

"Bro, it's me!"

Travis raised a brow "Meryl? Oh hey, hows the tricks?"

"Nevermind that bro, you will not believe what just happened! I knew it! I KNEW IT!"

"Yo chill! What happened?"

Travis heard Maryl take multiple deep breaths before yelling "LUCAS JUST FUCKING KILLED SOMEONE!"

...

Travis stared at the phone.

"Really?" He responded with the blandest and most uninterested tone of voice he could muster "seriously? You think Lucas did it? Yeah, because Lucas, the most harmless thing alive just behind newborn kittens would brutally murder someone and drain 'em of their blood, sure Meryl... I totally believe you" he then placed a finger in his temple "I know you don't lime him, but this is low, even for you..."

Travis could hear spluttering on the other end of the line before Meryl screeched "DO YOU REALLY THINK I'D MAKE THIS UP!?"

"Well..." Travis shrugged "yeah?"

"I have literaly photographic evidence! I can prove he did it!"

Wow, she was really desperate to convince him that Lucas did it "aight then, show me the deets tomorrow, if they're real off course"

"Fuck you, and gladly" shit, Travis could feel her flipping him off on the other end.

"Bye crackhead" he snorted.

"Up yours, cocksucker"

When Travus hung up, he soon saw his brother, whom had been standing in the door way "oh, hey Zack"

"Hey"

The two stayed silent for a little while before Zack exhaled heavily "what happened to that girl, it's real sad"

"Yeah..." Travis muttered "they even drained her blood, like, who does that?"

"A ghoul, that's what" Zack snorted, before quickly adding "I've watched horror movies, I know my stuff" the two shared a laugh, and as they did so Zack came and sat beside his younger brother.

"I overheard your conversation, you know a Lucas?"

Travis nodded "yeah, Lucas Dubois, do you know him?"

Zack adopted a rather... bitter facial expression, the last time Travis had seen him with that face was when he began talking about his (slut) ex girlfriend, but this couldn't be the same situation, Zack was twenty one and Lucas was sixteen. So if it wasn't over a failed relationship, why did Zack look so... mad? The older boy's movements also changed to reflect this new attitude.

"Yeah... we got history... I know a Lucas Dubois..."

"History? What do you mean?"

Zack stayed silent, he then put an arm on Travis' shoulder "look bro, there's some things that I don't think you're ready to know yet, things about life, our family, the world..." he trailed off, looking at the ground "if I were to tell you these things, you probably wouldn't believe me, or you'd think I'm lying... I can't tell you how or why I know Lucas, but what I can tell you is you really shouldn't associate with him"

Are you fucking-

Travis pouted, brushing his brother's hand off "seriously, you too? What's with you conspiracy theorists and not liking Luke? Is his kindness really that mindboggling?"

Zack looked confused, before then raising his head in realization "oooh, so kind boy is the persona he's taking on now, better than being the creep"

"What?"

Zack shook his head "it doesn't matter, I can't tell you why, not yet, but you can't-"

"No, screw you!" Travis said, shooting up from his seat "first thst weirdo Ana, then Meryl, and now you! It's getting annoying! Just leave him alone!"

"Travis, if you'd just listen-"

"No!"

Zack watched in shock as his brother stomped up to his room, even leaving his homework down there. He didn't understand, why was Travis being so defensive over Lucas? Did they know each other? It didn't make sense...

Deciding that he would just give his brother some space, Zack shrugged and made his way to the kitchen.

\------

"Did you get rid of her?"

"Of course, she was a liability after all"

Lucas watched as Ness hand washed his bloodied clothes, the other's eyes as hollow and bland as always. Lucas found it humorous almost, humans were so easy to toy with, so easy to mold into what you wanted them to be, and that was what drew Lucas to them so much. To the rest of the school, Ness and Lucas were the perfect couple, Ness was the protective and hard headed boyfriend, whilst Lucas was the gentler and more logical boyfriend, they seemed to balance each other out nicely.

If only Ness was really Ness.

Lucas remembered the day like it was yesterday, when he first saw Ness he knew he had to have him, but he couldn't stay as Ness, he'd be too difficult to handle and he couldn't convince him to do anything.

So he molded his mind into what he desired, and then Ness became perfect.

He became oh so obedient, oh so dependent on him, oh so in love. He acted like his normal self most of the time, but he could never say no to Lucas, he could never leave Lucas.

He now needed Lucas, and without him he would die.

Lucas thought he did a good job in remaking Ness from scratch, he took away all the gross autonomy and made him a good little servant who was willing to do anything for the one in control, luckily he had been able to hide it under the guise of a happy relationships.

Sadly, Lucas knew this couldn't last. Ness had been in this... state for about a year now, and it wouldn't be long until his autonomy woke back up and he would attempt to break apart everything Lucas had built up to this point, but Lucas was prepared.

When that day came, he'd simply dispose of him, just like he did Ana.

"Make sure you don't leave a drop of blood on my shirt" Lucas said "and if amy questions are asked, I spent the night at your place"

"Yes Lucas" Ness simply responded, continuing his chore. Ness would have been confused about this, how when they were around other people he and Luke were normal but when theu were alone, he seemed to fall into a trance. Ness would lose all control of himself and would do whatever Lucas asked, however he would forget about this trance soom after they were back in public view, because of this, Ness never even realized what was going on.

Lucas smirked, he did a really good job on him.

\------

Travis went to school the next day in a pissy mood, he was sick of hearing people degrade and downtalk his crush, but why did it annoy him so much? Yeah, he had fallen hard for Lucas, but the two had only spoken once, the blond had most likely forgotten his name by now. Either way, Travis didn't think they were being fair on him, Lucas was as nice as nice could be, why were they so judgemental?

His mind then switched to the murder, the victim was surely enough identified as sixteen year old Ana Snowden. Despite heavy forensic searching, police were unable to find any evidence left behind by the killer, not a hair or a fingerprint anywhere. That made Travis shiver, without forensics or evidence, the murderer could easily get away with their crime, meaning there would be a killer on the loose in Onett. Travis then felt his heart freeze.

Meryl said that Lucas did it, and she had photographic proof.

Travis then scoffed, she was clearly lying, Meryl was just obsessed with painting Lucas as a villain, nothing more nothing less. He continued to walk before he soon saw the object of his affections, Lucas, walking around on his own. He had heard from the grapevine that Ness was sick, this was amazing as it meant Travis could finally build somewhat of a relationship with Lucas.

The blond sat by the school fountain, and Travis almost didn't approach him due to not wanting to mess up the scene. Water sprouted from the fountain, glistening as it hit the sunlight and falling gracefully behind the sitting figure, who was reading a book. His hair flowed gently with the breeze and his eyes glanced around occasionally, uninterested in the rest of the school.

'Come on Travis, you can do this' he told himself.

"H-Hi Lucas!" He waved, sitting beside him.

The blond looked back at Travis with a smile "oh, hello Travis! How has your morning been?"

'He remembers my name!'

"My morning's been alright! How about you?"

Lucas closed his book "my morning's been fine, other than the fact that Ness' sick"

'Urgh, fuck Ness' 

"Well, that's too bad"

Lucas nodded before sliding his book in his bag and standing up "class is about to start, and I believe we have the same one? Biology?"

Travis quickly brought out his schedual before nodding, the two were about to go together when the school intercom went off:

ALL STUDENTS MUST REPORT TO THE ASSEMBLY HALL! FIRST PERIOD HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH AN ASSEMBLY!

"Well" Lucas began "I guess that's no biology"

The two shared a quick laugh before making their way to the assembly hall, the both knew what this was about, they were going to talk about Ana's murder. Travis still didn't feel comfortable knowing that they couldn't find the killer, it could be anyone, it could even be-

Nah, it couldn't have been.

Could it?

The two soon found themselves in the assembly hall, and as Travis guessed, the assembly was about Ana's murder. Halfway through, someone walked out of the assembly, followed by a few other students and teachers. The person ended up being Ninten, Ana's boyfriend. Travis couldn't but wince, he couldn't imagine what it was like to lose your partner, especially in such a messed up way. As the assembly went on, the spoke about Ana as a person, some clubs she was in, they then started talking about ways to stay safe, self defence and such, it was going rather smoothly until a certain someone interrupted it.

No...

She wasn't gonna...

"Sir!" Meryl yelled, standing up with her phone in hand "I know who did it!"

She was actually gonna do this...

"Meryl Strepher, please sit down-"

"No! I won't!" She then started walking forward with a wire chord in hand "I know who did it!"

Mr. Strider, the teacher, frowned "oh really? Who was it?"

"It was him!" She yelled, pointing at Lucas "he did it! I have proof!"

The hall gasped as everyone began murmuring and looking at Lucas. Instead of looking upset or confused, Lucas looked unamused, almost as if he knew she was gonna do it. He then shrugged "prove it"

Travis squinted his eyes, what?

Meryl shot Lucas a disgusted facial expression "you already know you're caught, why would you push me to do it?"

"Do it Meryl, prove it" was all he said. Travis didn't even know that they knew each other, and the way Lucas spoke it was as if they had already interracted somewhat about this.

What was going on?

As the rest of the hall watched in shock or murmured to eafh other, Meryl pushed the Mr. Strider out of the way before connecting her phone to the laptop via the chord she was holding, after a few seconds of loading a file finally popped up, when she clicked the file, and image loaded. The image was that of Ana being pinned to a wall by a male...

And this male looked...

Nothing like Lucas?

The male had short and scruffy brown hair, his pale skin contrasted with Lucas' soft tan, he also appeared to be much taller than Lucas, he even looked taller than the average male. He wore a black hoodie and black pants however his footwear was obscured. Everyone, including Meryl looked at the screen in shock.

Lucas let out an amused huff "that was your proof? Your evidence? So you're telling me that dude is me? Really?"

Meryl felt her eyes go wide "what the FUCK! No! I remember taking the photo! It looked just like you! What the hell did you do!?"

"Meryl" Lucas began "I know you don't like me very much, so maybe it was wishful thinking-"

"No! Fuck you! I KNOW you did something-"

"That is enough Miss Strepher!"

Meryl looked back to see Mr. Strider, along with a few other staff members glaring at her "not only have you interrupted a very importent and sensitive assembly, but you physically harmed a member of staff and accused another student of committing murder" Mr. Strider's eyes squinted "you're photos arent even good enough evidence to accuse said student"

"Sir!" She said, putting her arm up "I swear when I took these he was in them, he had the same obnoxious hairstyle!"

"That is enough, Meryl, you are know on isolation, I want you to go and meet Mrs. Mary in her office, maybe you can explain to her what happened"

"But-"

"NOW!"

Meryl reluctantly unplugged her phone and stuffed it in her pocket, she made her way out of the assembly hall, head down as other students laughed or mocked her. Despite thinking she brought it upon herself, Travis felt bad for Meryl, she seemed so convinced that it kind of hurt to see her be proven wrong, in front of their whole grade too? Must have been humiliating.

Meryl was always labelled as the 'weird kid' she wasn't really an Obscure but she wasn't a Sorta-Cool either, she was in the middle. With her headstrong attitude and weird ideals people either felt intimidated by her or creeped out, Travis knew that this incident would only make the subtle teasing worse.

Especially since it was Lucas she accused.

Travis sighed, hopefully the rest of the school day wasn't this wild.

\------

Ness felt weird.

He wasn't at home, but this wasn't strange. His sister was abroad with their dad for a dance recitle, and his mother often didn't care what he did as long as he didn't get arrested. She'd let him stay away from him for days and not even get the slightest bit worried.

Ness bad always been a rather rebellious child, he rarely if ever followed the rules, did stupid shit and put his parents through hell when he was younger, it had gotten to the point where they didn't even try to disciplin him, they just let him do whatever and hoped he was smart enough to not get into too much trouble.

Then he met Lucas.

Ness remembered the day like it was yesterday, he had seen Lucas walking into the school building with a bag in hand, at first he didn't give the boy much thought, that was until the two accidently locked eyes, and something in side Ness just... shifted.

He couldn't fully describe the color of Lucas' eyes, they were blue, but they were a very bright sky blue, they had pink and green gradient coming from all around them, they just looked so full of color, so full of life. He couldn't fully describe the feeling he got when he looked at then either, at first he just thought it was a love at first sight sort of thing, then he realized it was more of a... pull. Something was forcing him towards Lucas, and no matter what he did, he couldn't stop it.

After a while the two began dating, Lucas got along well with his Banger friends well and overall things were fine.

But for some reason, for all the time he had known Lucas, Ness never felt himself. He never felt like Ness, he was still a troublemaker, but he was more... well behaved. He stopped getting detentions, his grades had improved, and he did everything Lucas told him to. Everyone else thought this was cute, that he was changing his attitude to suit Lucas, but Ness could feel something was off.

Occasionally, Ness would wake up terrified, his head would be throbbing painfully and he'd have no knowledge of where he was or what happened, he'd remember vague tidbits of all the horrific things he'd help Lucas with, he'd try to escape but he couldn't move, and then he'd see Lucas approach. Lucas would look weird, he'd have his standout features, but his eyes would be a dark almost red color and his arms would look deformed, monster-like. Next thing he knew, he was awake in his bed and would feel relatively normal.

Ness uses to think these were just dreams, but his better judgement was catching up to him.

Part of him was screaming at him to leave Lucas and just run, but he couldn't, he didn't know why though, he just couldn't.

Today Ness woke up with a headache, Lucas told him he was sick, and told him to not leave the house until he came back or else his headache would get worse.

"Trust me dear, when would I ever lie to you?"

And although his mind was trying to convince him otherwise, Ness smiled.

Lucas was a good person, he was sure of it.

Now he just had to wait until Lucas got home.

\------

Travia sighed as he walked out of school, the day was finally over! However, he couldn't complain too much, it's not like the day was bad. He had gotten closer to Lucas and hadn't been harrassed, so overall it was a good day. Meryl was still in school which was understandable, after the stunt she pulled during assembly she was still in detention.

When Travis walked out the gate, he felt a tap on his shoulder, Travis then looked back and saw...

"Hey Trav" Lucas smiled.

Travis had a nickname? I mean he was overjoyed but since when "oh! Hey..."

"I just wanted to say, um, thanks for hanging out with me, I was feeling a little lonely so I really do appreciate it"

Travis feigned humbleness and waved a hand "it's cool, hey, anyone would have"

Lucas shook his head "no seriously, thank you" he then walked passed him "see you tomorrow Trav!"

Travis watched him walk away, he had reached nickname status...

Fuck what he said a few seconds ago, today was a fucking legendary day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See??? I wasnt lying!!!


	3. Exposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deadass nothing other than meeting Hinawa for like 4 paragraphs, you can even skip this and wait for the next, more interesting chapter ekekekdkd

If Ness could describe the feeling he was currently feeling, it was like being high on some kind of drug, or a heavy sedative. He was sore all over, the headache had progressed to his whole body and he couldn't even move due to the pain.

Soon, he heard the door open, and despite not turning his head he knew who it was.

"L...uc...as?"

The blond sighed. Lucas thought back to how confident he was earlier and didn't know why he no longer felt that way. Ness was becoming suspicious and defiant, and as he had promised them if this happened he had to dispose of him. At first he didn't care, but then he realized that killing Ness was different, Ness wasn't some random person off the street or a lone stalker, Ness was his familiar, his boyfriend, soon Lucas' cocky confidence faded. Yes, at first he was just using Ness as a helper for his crimes, but as time went on he began genuinely caring for Ness, dare he say he felt a few feelings, but only a little, he'd rather die than fall in love with a pathetic mortal.

Lucas wasn't stupid though, whatever genuine fondness Lucas felt wasn't truly recipocated, because he had to partially fuck with Ness' mind to get him in the state he was in. Lucas was fine with it though.

So Lucas decided that instead of killing Ness, he would kill 'Ness'.

If Ness was no longer human, they wouldn't want him dead, so Lucas did the unthinkable.

He turned Ness into one of his kind.

Now his favorite little helper was safe.

The transformation was subtle, a swift bite to the neck that probably felt like a mosquito bite was all it took for Lucas to inject him with enough of his own blood to transform him. Seeing Ness in so much pain hurt him a little to watch, but Ness was going to be 'sick' for a few days before fully becoming one of them.

One of the б⃟ｻ⃟◊⃟ㄩ⃟ﾚ⃟𐒡⃟ .

"I'm sorry deary, you'll get better soon, and when you do..." Lucas hollowly chuckled "you'll be reeeaaal mad at me, you'll remember everything clearly, you'll hate me... but that's okay... it'll be okay..."

Lucas felt like he was losing, for the first time he never felt like the untouchable monster, he couldn't just give in to his natural violent instincts and blame it on them. Lucas willingly screwed with Ness because he was too scared to do it all on his own, and when Ness became one of his kind, he'd turn on him. Not only that, but that Travis kid had to be in his life now.

Lucas wasn't stupid, he was Zack's brother, he knew Zack, he never wanted to see Zack again after the incident.

Not only that, but shortly after getting rid of Ana, who was going to expose him, now he had Meryl on his trail, but for certain reasons he couldn't simply kill her.

Things weren't going his way, and he didn't like it, not one bit.

Lucas focused on Ness, once Ness fully transformed he knew their pretty much fake relationship was going to end, so he felt obligated to show part of his sorryness via helping him out as he was going through said pain.

\------

Zack was fuming.

Travis was in his room doing homework, when Zack threw a mini tantrum in the living room, the blond bastard he-

Zack inhaled softly, he should calm down.

He couldn't though.

After finding out that the one thing he has tried so desperately to exterminate went to his younger brother's school, he'd been feeling anxious. When Travis came home, gushing about how him and Lucas were apparently on nickname basis, Zack's anxious feeling got worse.

He made a promise to protect Travis and make sure he was never exposed to the problem, but now that said problem wss practically at his doorstep, what was he to do? If he confronted Lucas, the blond would kill him, if not, the blond would kill others, he was sure of it.

His kind never changed.

He'd seen it first hand.

Zack seethed some more, why did Lucas have to be here? Especially after the last time they met. He probably knew Travis' last name too, so he knew that Zack was in town, the man sighed, he couldn't be out in the open for a while. He'd also have to become even more protective of Travis.

He couldn't be exposed to the ⃟ｻ⃟◊⃟ㄩ⃟ﾚ⃟𐒡⃟ , at least, not yet.

Zack whipped out his phone and dialed a number, it rung a few times before he heard a voice "hello? Zachary?"

Zack exhaled shakily "hey mom, how's the trip goin'?"

"It's okay... are you okay baby? You sound shaken"

"I'm cool mom it's just-" Travis felt himself shiver, before whispering quietly to the phone so Travis couldn't hear "Lucas is in town mom, and he goes to Travis' school"

Silence.

"I see..." his mother finally responded after a long pause "have you gotten any reports on Hinawa?"

"No mom, not yet"

"That's good, at least the Matriarch isn't here to wreck havoc"

"Mom, I think he's already killed people"

"You mean Ana? That would make sense, she was drained of her blood-"

"He's getting close to Travis mom and-" all Zack's mother could hear was the soft sobbing of her son on the other end "what if he sees Travis as some kind of prey? I'm not ready to lose him... I don't wanna lose him... I..."

"Oh deary..." his mother tittered, sad that she couldn't hug him through the phone "you'll be fine, Travis will be fine, remember, Lucas isn't our target here"

"But if we don't stop him he will"

"But what will he be without the pack leader? At the end of the day, him and his kind are a bunch of lost souls following one leader, we kill her, we kill them all"

Zach took her words into consideration "thanks mom... do you think I should tell Travis? About... them?"

Silence.

"If you feel as though he's ready, tell him, he deserves to know who he's becoming close with" she then sighed "I'm sorry dear, but I really must leave"

"By mom, love you"

"Love you too Zachary"

Then the line went silent. Zack put the phone down and ran his hands through his hair, with all of this stress he was gonna go bald by 23, he exhaled deeply and decided he would tell Travis, just not today, for he needed some rest.

\------

In a Lion pride, the females do the hunting and the males guard and defend the territory. The men are often seen as the brawn when in reality that is the woman's job, whilst the men simply watch over as it's happening.

Things were similar in these lands, women were the heads, the bosses, they had the power. Only a woman was allowed to lead the pack, so ironically enough they were akin to the Lion's worst enemy, the Hyena.

And of course, Matriarch Hinawa wouldn't have it any other way.

Hinawa was a fierce warrior in her realm, respected for her hunting ability and sharp attitude, nobody in her kingdom held a candle to her, even her own husband would bow in fear with one look from her sharp, almost horrifying fuschia eyes.

Heh, reminds her of her son

Speaming of her son, the woman had sent Lucas to live in the human world, she had told him to gather intel and scope it out, but for whatever reason she had lost contact with him and she couldn't trace where he was.

This worried her.

What if they were onto her?

"Kanyabe, come here"

A young girl, with ghoulish features and pitch black and clawed hands approached "yes my queen?"

"Has your team tracked the prince yet?"

"He's still off our raidar ma'am, we can't even track the boy he was with"

Ah yes, the delinquent she had told him to kill. Wait, what if he-

No, Hinawa's son hadn't gone soft. Hinawa hadn't raised a coward. Her son had done the deed.

"Keep looking, he'll be found when he wants to be found"

Kanyabe bowed "yes my lady" she said, before making her way towards her group of searchers, Hinawa simply watched.

That was all she had to do these days, watch. She watched her kingdom thrived, she watched rivals try to take her down, only to be executed by her devout followers, she watched as her eldest son was being trained by her husband, she watched as her youngest son began slowly slipping out of her grip.

Hinawa let out an unintentional growl, Lucas was becoming problematic to say the least, stubborn, rude, cunning, manipulative.

Those were, in her eyes, good traits, one of a harsh and sneaky leader, ones that neither her husband or eldest had.

The problem was he was using them for all the wrong reasons.

Lucas was becoming defiant, reckless, and overall didn't seem to care for Hinawa's disciplin.

She couldn't lose control over her most useful asset.

In the end, all the Matriarch could do was sit at her thrown and hope that the searchers would soon return with info on her currently AWOL child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See??? Exposition, just like the name said >:(


	4. Passing the Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TLDR: Ness is in a coma and Lucas and Travis watch The Land Before Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY ITS BEEN A YEAR-
> 
> I'm so srry for disappearing, theres too many factors as to why but all u need to know is I have returned and my writing had greatly improved since then!!!! Less spelling mistakes!!!!!!
> 
> This is also pretty short, consider it my way of saying "I'm back!" as opposed to writing a super serious in depth chapter,,,

Lucas couldn't believe what was happening.

The plan, as stated earlier was for him to turn Ness into one of his kind, he would swiftly inject Ness with his blood and after a painful metamorphosis, the teen would be just like him. However, for whatever reason it seemed as though Ness' body was actively rejecting this transformation; he had awoken in the middle of the night, screaming in agony as his body began palpitating, horrified, Lucas quickly rendered him unconscious. As the days went on, it felt like Lucas' plans were beginning to foil, all he wanted was a perfect high school life like that you'd see in a movie, but everyone just had to be so goddam nosy, so desperate to know what was up with him.

Luckily, Lucas had managed to get Ness' family out of the way. They weren't dead, but he couldn't have them questioning where Ness was, so until he had sorted this situation out, due to his meddling, there was no such thing as the Franklin family, only Ness. He knew it was risky to use his powers at such a high scale, but he wasn't his brother, he was smart enough to plan out his actions before he actually did them. From this point forward, nothing else could possibly go wrong, not if Lucas had any say in the matter.

Ness now lay there, motionless. Lucas made sure to put him in an indefinite comatose-like state, as much as he would like having Ness awake, he couldn't risk the boy dying from this transferral. So, Ness would be asleep until Lucas could figure out what the hell was wrong with him, because for as strong as he was, Lucas' powers did not extend to raising the dead. The blonde sighed, resting the noirette on the bed in his shack gently before getting up, he had school that day and didn't want people to be more suspicious than they already were of Ness' condition, he had so Bangers to mindbend.

He then remembered something, the James-McCloud's were in town, so he definitely had to clear things up, if Zach caught wind of Ness being absent...

Lucas groaned as he walked out of the shack, from Zach the wannabe detective to Meryl's stalker-ish tendencies, he was beginning to wonder if this supposed perfect high school life was truly worth it.

\------

Travis was no stalker, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that Lucas seemed off today. The usually bright boy that radiated joy and positivity was slumped at his desk, barely paying attention to what the teacher was saying, and unenthusiastically scribbling in his textbook. He didn't look tired, but he didn't seem all too full of energy. To put it as simply as he could, Lucas looked completely miserable. Travis couldn't blame him though, apparently Ness' sickness had gotten worse, and his family had to transfer him to a hospital overseas for treatment, the Franklins never disclosed exactly what Ness had, but it must have been really bad for them to travel so far just to treat him. As much as Travis didn't like Ness, he felt bad for him, and couldn't imagine just how hard his boyfriend was taking all of this.

It seemed as though the teacher picked up on this too, because he didn't ask nor call upon Lucas for anything the entire lesson, and when it was over, the blond was quick to pick up his bag and rush out of the class. Travis watched on worry, he didn't think they were close enough for him to just approach the other out of nowhere, but if he happened to run into him that day he would be sure to ask him if everything was okay.

And wouldn't you know, that's exactly what happened.

It was after school when the two ran into each other, Lucas had accidently bumped into Travis and a conversation soon broke out, as much as he wanted to be engaged in it, the brunette was too focused on how lovely Lucas' voice sounded. As he let the blond speak, his suspicions were confirmed, the other went on to talk about how stressed and worried he was for Ness, and how he was upset that his family wouldn't even tell him what was wrong, it felt wrong in the eyes of the geekier teen, the Franklins seemed like assholes.

Travis wasn't sure how it happened, but the two soon got onto the topic of getting to know each other, and almost instantly, he managed to gather up the courage to say "um, i-if you want you could... come over to my place, um, only if you want to though"

For a split second, Travis couldn't read the expression that had grown on Lucas' face, but felt his defensiveness shatter when the boy nodded and smiled "sure, why not? I've been cooped up in my house for too long anyway, I wouldn't mind coming over"

In that moment, Travis felt a happiness he didn't think he'd ever feel, his crush wanted to come over! Had he not been so excited, he would have remembered that according to Zach, he and Lucas did not get along and had some bad history with each other. That didn't matter though, Travis was not going to let his brother's pettiness get in the way of his potential friendship-and-maybe-romance with Lucas, whether he liked it or not the blond was coming over, and the eldest had not a single say in the matter.

The walk to his place felt shorter than usual, it was probably the adrenalin getting him ready to host the other at his house, when they arrived Travis was first to open the door, holding it wide for Lucas to walk through, of course, the blond let out one of his many humble chuckles, before walking in with a pleased hum. Now, that had already taken a lot of confidence to do, so when he walked up beside him the brunette blushed "so, um, make yourself at home! I'll show you to the living room!" he said with a nervous chuckle, leading the way there "it's not very decorated or snazzy, but it's cool for us! Actually I-" before Travis could finish, he was cut off by the sight of Zach laying on the couch watching TV.

His older brother soon looked up "oh, welcome back! How was... school..."

When Zach locked eyes with Lucas, Travis could have sworn the energy shifted instantly. Lucas' expression was more blank, his usually colorful eyes suddenly showing little to no vibrancy whatsoever, it was subtle, but his stance had also changed, his fists had tightened and his posture had overall developed a sort of defensiveness to it. Over with Zach, it looked like he was close to attacking Lucas and ripping him in two, the only thing stopping him being the fact that Travis was there.

Zach then suddenly stood up, receiving looks of disapproval from both parties, but instead of trying to harm the blond, he just stretched and walked passed them "I ordered some pizza earlier, it's in the kitchen so just go and grab some if you're hungry, I'm gonna take a nap, peace"

When the older boy was gone, both teens instantly loosened, Travis then looking to Lucas, "so you two really do know each other, huh? What's the deal with that?"

"Don't wanna talk about it" was all the blonde said before making his way to the couch and plopping down. Deciding not to mess up his chances by questioning it, Travis went to the kitchen and noticed the boxes of pizza, they were sort of cold by now, so he reheat them and brought some out, smiling warmly when he saw Lucas look around curiously, he looked like a child in a museum, one would assume he'd never seen a living room before by the wistful look on his face

When Travis sat down, he handed Lucas a plate which he happily accepted, and then paused. What was he supposed to do now? The only person he ever brought over was Meryl, but he wasn't that close with Lucas, he fiddled with the remote, not noticing how Lucas had managed to slide one his his many DVDs into his hand and looked over it inquisitively. The blond brought his head up, tilting it slightly when he asked, "what's this?"

"A... DVD?"

Lucas scoffed, "I know what a DVD is Trav I mean what movie is this?"

"Oh! I totally knew that" Travis snorted, attempting to hide his embarrassment, "It's The Land Before Time, why- wait, don't tell me you've never watched it...?"

Lucas then shook his head, looking down at the DVD, "nope, I never have, can't say I've even heard of it- hey!" Lucas was caught quite of guard when Travis yanked the DVD out of his hands and huffed, the brunette put his plate of pizza down, went to the TV and began inserting the DVD.

"Sorry Luke, but you can't tell me you're in your mid teens and you haven't watched The Land Before Time, I can't let that happen, you're not leaving this building until you've watched the entire thing"

"That's kidnapping Travis"

"It has to be done, believe me, you'll thank me with time for saving your childhood, which couldn't have been that good if you've never seen this"

Lucas let off a spluttering sound, before a laugh soon took place "shut up! You know, you're building up a lot of hype for this film"

"As I should!" he confidently hummed, slumping back on the couch, "you won't understand until you watch it, I promise you when I say this film will legit change your life"

Lucas raised a brow, but said nothing as the movie began, this film better be good, or Travis would pay dearly for wasting his time.

…

Okay, Lucas lied, he wouldn't do anything to the brunette, for some reason, he was beginning to develop a bit of a soft spot for the awkward teen. So, instead of a bad attitude, for the first time in weeks Lucas simply relaxed, enjoying the film, not caring that he was in his nemesis' home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay see u next year-
> 
> JK, I'll update this when I can!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Aight so I might have lied-


End file.
